3 And in her humour, when she frown'd, And shake with fury to the ground 4 The other was of gentler cast, Her frowns were seldom known to last, 5 To poets of renown in song The Nymphs referr'd the cause; 6 They gentle call'd, and kind and soft, And though she changed her mood so oft, 7 No judges, sure, were e'er so mad, In short the charms her sister had 8 Then thus the god, whom fondly they Was heard, one genial summer's day, 9" Since thus ye have combined," he said, 66 My favourite Nymph to slight, Adorning May, that peevish maid, 10 "The minx shall, for your folly's sake, Shall make your scribbling fingers ache, May 1791. YARDLEY OAK.1 SURVIVOR Sole, and hardly such, of all That once lived here, thy brethren; at my birth When our forefather Druids in their oaks Of amnesty, the meed of blood divine, Thou wast a bauble once, a cup and ball Which babes might play with; and the thievish jay, 10 20 1 This tree had been known by the name of Judith for many ages. Perhaps it received that name on being planted by the Countess Judith, niece to the Conqueror, whom he gave in marriage to the English Earl Waltheof, with the counties of Northampton and Huntingdon as her dower. But Fate thy growth decreed; autumnal rains Thy rudiments should sleep the winter through. Sifts half the pleasures of short life away! Thou fell'st mature; and, in the loamy clod Didst burst thine egg, as theirs the fabled Twins,1 And, all the elements thy puny growth Fostering propitious, thou becamest a twig. 23 30 Who lived when thou wast such? Oh, couldst thou speak, As in Dodona once thy kindred trees Oracular, I would not curious ask The future, best unknown, but at thy mouth By thee I might correct, erroneous oft, Desperate attempt, till trees shall speak again! 41 Time made thee what thou wast, king of the woods; 50 And time hath made thee what thou art a cave For owls to roost in. Once thy spreading boughs O'erhung the champaign; and the numerous flocks That grazed it stood beneath that ample cope Uncrowded, yet safe shelter'd from the storm. Twins: Castor and Pollux. No flock frequents thee now. Thy popularity, and art become Thou hast outlived 56 (Unless verse rescue thee awhile) a thing Forgotten, as the foliage of thy youth. While thus through all the stages thou hast push'd Of girth enormous, with moss-cushion'd root What exhibitions various hath the world That we account most durable below! In all that live, plant, animal, and man; And in conclusion mar them. Nature's threads, Fine passing thought, even in their coarsest works, Delight in agitation, yet sustain The force that agitates not unimpair'd; But worn by frequent impulse, to the cause Thought cannot spend itself, comparing still Of matchless grandeur, and declension thence, 70 80 Slow, into such magnificent decay. Time was when, settling on thy leaf, a fly Could shake thee to the root-and time has been When tempests could not. At thy firmest age Thou hadst within thy bole solid contents 90 100 That might have ribb'd the sides and plank'd the deck A quarry of stout spurs and knotted fangs, Which, crook'd into a thousand whimsies, clasp The stubborn soil, and hold thee still erect. 16 So stands a kingdom, whose foundation yet 110 120 'Knee-timber' is found in the crooked arms of oak, which, by reason of their distortion, are easily adjusted to the angle formed where the deck and the ship's sides meet. |